Thoughts about changing up my DAW

Howdy!

So I happened to give some thought to changing up my music production software and felt like sharing my thoughts here.

I’ve used Propellerhead’s Reason Essentials software for all of my music production for the past year or so. Now while Reason isn’t exactly a DAW in the purest sense, it has served me adequately. However, there are some sides to using Reason that I’ve found myself disliking to an extent. For one, its unique Rack Extension format, despite the availability and relative affordability of the bulk of them, essentially means that you can’t use VST plugins with it.

The reason I bring up VSTs is that there’s a rather cool-looking plugin that I’ve been checking out lately: Bias FX, a guitar amp/effects interface plugin by Positive Grid. Now due to Bias FX being a plugin and not available in Reason’s Rack Extension format or even as a standalone, I’d have to buy an actual DAW in order to be able to use it.

Another upside to getting an actual DAW would be the sheer number of high-quality plugins waiting to be found and experimented with. However, a lot of the plugins can be pretty pricey, and aside from Bias FX, there are next to none I know of that offer a free trial version. Of course free plugins do also exist.

Now on the other hand, the DAWs themselves can cost a fortune, and although chances are they’ll support third-party plugins, their cheapest versions may not necessarily feature that support. Such was the case with the cheapest edition of Presonus’ Studio One 2. And the upgrade to the full version of Reason isn’t cheap either.

Don’t get me wrong, I’ve absolutely loved working with Reason. Only downside of it, as I mentioned earlier, is its lack of VST support. That’s why I’ve been giving some thought to getting an actual DAW lately.

I won’t ask for your help on deciding what I should do. I prefer thinking things through personally. But I hope you stuck through this post nevertheless.